'Star Trek: Picard': What Kind of Red Wine is Château Picard?

On Thursday, a quick teaser-trailer hinted at the what Captain Jean-Luc Picard will be doing in the upcoming new 2019 series: Star Trek: Picard. For nineties Trek fans who remembered when Picard learned how to play the flute on The Next Generation, this new trailer will give you some solid TNG nostalgia. Just like in the last episode of The Next Generation — “All Good Things” — Jean-Luc is tending the vines of his family’s wine vineyard. The big mystery of the show is all about what happened to Picard 25 years after the end of TNG, and why he’s no longer a Starfleet captain. But for those of us here on Earth, there’s a deeper mystery: Where can we get some of that red wine Picard is making? Turns out, there is an answer.

Ever since The Next Generation introduced the fact that Picard’s family owned a winery in France called Château Picard, wine buffs and Trekkies alike have wanted to get their hands on and corkscrews into some vintage red French red from the future. In real life, there is a winery called Château Picard in Saint-Estèphe, France. In Trek lore, despite having an English accent, Picard was born in Labarrère, France which is about two hours away from Saint-Estèphe, but surely quicker if you’re beaming. But where you can you get the wine if you live in America? And is it the same wine — or close to the same wine — that Picard has in the new show?

The answer is: you can get the wine, but it’s different.

Château Picard puts out what is called a Saint-Estèphe. (most big French wines are named for the places they are made, hence real Champagne is from Champagne, France.) In terms of grape varietals, the Château Picard Saint-Estèphe is 85 percent Cabernet Sauvignon and 15 percent merlot. It’s aged in oak barrels for 14 months but spends as long as 15 years on the vine before that.

You can buy it here for $25 bucks a bottle.

Picard’s new wine is an ’86 vintage, as in 2386, which means those grapes probably started growing around the time of the movie Star Trek: Generations; which is weird because in that movie, Picard’s brother, who ran the vineyard, died in a fire. ANYWAY.

Now, in The Next Generation, and in the movies, it seems like Château Picard was a Bordeaux, which can actually be a blend of a lot of grapes. In the new trailer for Star Trek: Picard (which is more about wine than it is about space travel) the wine looks like it’s now a Burgandy (or Bourgogne); which is now another completely different blend of wine, usually made up of Pinot Noir.

In the 24th century of Star Trek have the rules of what you call different wines changed? In the trailer, Picard’s vineyard looks like it’s got yellow smog clouds hanging over it: could some kind of future climate change screwed up the location of Jean-Luc’s vines?

The plot of Star Trek: Picard probably has bigger intergalactic fish to fry than explaining how a bottle of went from being a Saint-Estèphe in the 21st century, to a Bordeaux, and then, 376 years later, a Bourgogne. But for now, if you want to drink like Picard, you can get Saint-Estèphe from Château Picard directly. Or, if you want the supermarket equivalent, hit up the French wine section, and grab a Burgandy, or you know, a Bordeaux, too.

Star Trek: Picard hits CBS-All Access in December 2019.